Please chance my DS who is very interested in Biological Sciences leading to Medicine for top 20 and Duke and Vandy specifically.
SAT: 1560 superscored
GPA: 3.95 (UW), 4.73 (W)
APs:
Junior Yr: Bio, Physics, World History, English 11, Calculus AB- waiting for scores but expect them all to be 4s and 5s
Senior Yr: Chem, Psych, Calculus BC, English 12, Spanish 5
Academic highlights:
Independent Research class in school in sophomore and junior year and planning to continue in senior year for total of 3 years. Contacted and recruited respected academics as advisors for my sleep related research. Helped plan school system level research conference and presented research findings.
Four years at Red Cross Club: Co-president (2 yrs), Treasurer and Historian (2 yrs)
Math tutor at my highschool - 3 yrs
National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society
National History Day Regional Competition Winner
National Spanish Examination Winner
Summer internships at ophthalmology lab at a local university and at an Army Research lab.
Volunteer Work:
Chief Operating Officer for regional chapter of Scientific Minds of America. Organized and ran summer summer camps and tutored underprivileged children.
Volunteers at a local psychiatry clinic to run their social media campaign.
Independent volunteer (not part of any expensive programs) at Gandhi Aashram in Amdavad India.
Two great choices. I really love Vanderbilt but have great respect for Duke which also has a beautiful campus and terrific academics. Even with your terrific stats and very solid extracurriculars, admission to neither school can be taken for granted. I strongly suggest that if you still feel these two schools are a great fit for you, that you plan to apply to one EDI and the other ED2 if necessary. Assuming they both have that option. Consider the pros and cons of each school in making your EDI choice. Consider Nashville v. North Carolina. Vanderbilt has a really terrific and competitive Indian dance group/club that I have seen perform. It is a very diverse school. Could be a great fit for you. Good luck!
Anybody know why Durham, NC never really developed around Duke University?
Other then 9th street and scattered improvements around the downtown ballpark, Durham doesn’t seem to benefit from the presence of such a prestigious college
Thank you everyone for taking a look. Sorry about the big omission on my part, it’s hard to chance an applicant without some idea of class rank.
Our school system here in Maryland does not provide class rank. It’s a very competitive school though, among top 3 in the state. If I had to guess the rank it’d be top 10% in the class of 250.
We are interested in RD chances, knowing that ED chances would be much better. Will definitely consider what @Sam-I-Am suggested.
Primarily concerned about ECs not being overly impressive.
Both of those were top choices for my D last year who had similar stats. She was waitlisted at Vandy and rejected from Duke, both RD. Her stats were very in line with other kids who were admitted, but both schools are super hard to get into and lots of kids with top stats are denied. She was admitted to other T20’s though. When it comes to those types of schools it’s just really hard to predict what will happen, especially applying RD. Your son has great stats and will be a contender but he definitely needs some schools that are more matches to fall back on! T20’s are reaches for pretty much everyone!
Even in high schools who don’t list a class rank, the admissions people can figure it out. They do this by looking at historical GPAs from your kids high school, and also it is sometimes mentioned in the letters of recommendation.
If your son in the bottom portion of the first decile, then RD application to Duke would be a long-shot. In the RD rounds they tend to take the superstars, URMS and others who could not afford the ED round.
Pre-med, especially for asian-indian can be a tough demographic. The good news is that you can afford full pay. For med school admissions, there is very little additional benefit by going to a T20. Might as well send him to a small LAC where he can be at the top of his class. MCAT + GPA will be the biggest drivers of med school admission.
With Vandy and Duke being so nearby, the geography of being from MD will work to your disadvantage. Why not apply to other colleges farther away?
Sorry I forgot to comment on the ECs. While not spectacular, they are solid. I wouldn’t fret about them. Shows enough breadth that it won’t be questioned. The ECs will help a marginal candidate, but the main things they will look at are class rank and test scores.
To be honest, for any of the top 20 schools, everyone has good grades, test scores, and extensive extracurriculars. What your admission really comes down to is your essays, if you have shown a lot of interest, race/gender/socioeconomic status (obviously cannot control this) and plain luck.
does your daughter have the potential to get into one of these top 20 schools? of course. but, if duke/vanderbilt is your goal your best bet is to ED, otherwise there is really no way to predict. at all.
Overall, I think DS is a good applicant, but without hooks, it is tough. For pre-med, a high GPA is really important, and it will be really hard to achieve at Duke and Vanderbilt.
I suggest you also look into some easier schools to get into. I suggest Wake Forest, Richmond, and Holy Cross as matches similar to Duke. Perhaps UMiami or Rhodes as safeties. You should also apply to some colleges in state (UMD CP, Towson etc.)